In Vitro Assessment of Cellular Immunity to Rauscher Leukemia Virus

Cell-mediated immunity to Rauscher leukemia virus (RLV) was studied utilizing the macrophage migration inhibition assay. Cell-mediated immunity to purified RLV antigen was detected in splenic lymphocytes of the leukemia resistant C57BL/6 mouse strain inoculated with infectious RLV. In contrast, no cellular immunity to RLV could be detected in splenic lymphocytes of the leukemia susceptible BALB/c mouse strain upon infection with RLV. Both strains of mice exhibited an active cell-mediated immune response following inoculation with heat-inactivated RLV. Appropropriate controls ruled out a contribution of either antibody or antibody-antigen complexes as mediators of the observed inhibition of macrophage migration. These data support the view that an inhibition of cell-mediated immune function may be a prerequisite to the induction of viral leukemia.